Moderate/Vigorous Exercise Attenuates Risks of Sitting

Sitting time linked to all-cause, CVD mortality in least active adults; MVPA can attenuate these links

MONDAY, April 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) equivalent to meeting current recommendations attenuates the association of sitting with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, according to a study published online April 22 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Emmanuel Stamatakis, Ph.D., from the University of Sydney, and colleagues calculated the multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of sitting for different sitting-MVPA combination groups and within MVPA strata.

The researchers found that during an 8.9-year follow-up period, there were 8,689 deaths (1,644 CVD deaths) among 149,077 participants. For all-cause mortality only, there was a statistically significant association between sitting and MVPA. For the least active groups (<150 MVPA minutes/week), sitting time was associated with both mortality outcomes in a nearly dose-response manner. For those reporting no MVPA, the all-cause mortality hazard ratio was 1.52 when the most to the least sedentary groups (more than eight hours versus less than four hours/day) were compared. Among those meeting the lower (150 to 299 MVPA minutes/week) or upper (≥300 MVPA minutes/week) limits of the MVPA recommendation, the evidence was inconsistent and weak for elevated CVD and all-cause mortality risks with more sitting. Among high sitters (more than six hours/day), replacing sitting with walking and MVPA showed stronger associations.

"Reduction of sitting time is an important strategy, ancillary to increasing physical activity, for preventing cardiovascular disease and premature mortality in physically inactive populations," the authors write.